Some iPhone or iPad users may occasionally encounter a strange issue where they are attempting to join a familiar wi-fi network, but iOS throws up an “Incorrect password” error message, and the iPhone or iPad refuses to join the wireless network. Often users will see the “Incorrect password” wi-fi error despite they being certain the wi-fi password is correct. Given how dependent these devices are to an internet connection, it’s understandably annoying when an iOS device doesn’t join a wi-fi network or gives you a repeated “incorrect password” message.

This walkthrough will aim to troubleshoot and fix the annoying “Incorrect password for network” error messages on an iPhone or iPad when trying to join a wi-fi network.

Wait! 4 Common Reasons Why You Will See the “Incorrect Password” Error

Before proceeding any further, be sure you cover the following bases:

Make sure you know the correct password of the wi-fi network

Make sure you are joining the correct wi-fi network, sometimes they have similar names as nearby wi-fi access points

Make sure you are entering the wi-fi password correctly, they are case sensitive and the wi-fi password must be an exact match

Make sure you do not have CAPS LOCK or an alternative language keyboard enabled when entering the password

You might think those recommendations are goofy, but many people incorrectly type a wi-fi password, or have the CAPS LOCK enabled when entering one, or perhaps they hear a word or phrase incorrectly and are typing the wi-fi password wrong. For example, if a wi-fi password is “Burrito123” then it must be entered exactly as that with the proper capitalization, otherwise you will see the ‘incorrect password’ error. It’s also not uncommon for people to be trying to join the wrong wi-fi network, so entering a correct wi-fi password but on the wrong access point is not going to work.

Assuming you have the proper wi-fi password and the proper network, and you are still seeing the incorrect password message, proceed to trouble shoot the issue in iOS.

Fix “Incorrect Password” Wi-Fi Errors on iPhone & iPad

We’ll cover a variety of troubleshooting tips and tricks to resolve the “Incorrect Password” error message when attempting to join a wireless network in iOS.

1: Reboot the iPhone or iPad

Sometimes simply restarting the iPhone or iPad can resolve strange network connection issues, including an inability to connect to a wi-fi network.

2: Forget the Wi-Fi Network, then Re-Join

Tap the (i) info button next to the network name of the wi-fi router you want to join

Tap on “Forget This Network”

Confirm that you want to forget the network by tapping “Forget”

Wait a moment or two, then re-join the same wi-fi network again and enter the correct password

3: Reset iOS Network Settings on the iPhone or iPad

Resetting the iOS Network Settings clears all wi-fi and network preferences and settings from the device. The downside to this approach is that you will lose any remembered wi-fi passwords, custom settings and configurations, and other remembered network data.

Open the “Settings” app on the iOS device and go to “General” and then to “Reset”

Tap on “Reset Network Settings” – it is critical you choose “Reset Network Settings” only as the other options may erase your entire device!

Confirm that you want to Reset Network Settings

When finished, re-join the wi-fi network with the correct password

Resetting network settings can often fix many annoying connectivity issues in iOS, often including the “incorrect password for network” error, an ambiguous “unable to join network” error, amongst others.

After you reset network settings, you may need to reconfigure various iOS networking components again. For example if you use custom DNS on the iPhone or iPad, manual DHCP configuration, use a VPN, a proxy, or if you had many networks remembered along with their passwords, all of that data would need to be entered manually again after a device network reset.

4: Restart the Wi-Fi Router or Modem

Unplugging a wi-fi router or modem, waiting about 15 seconds, then plugging the router back in again, will restart the router or modem.

Restarting a router or modem is not always possible however, particularly in many workforce or public environments. So while this approach may be fine in a home or small office, it’s not practical at an airport, office, or public space.

5: Change the Wi-Fi 5G Router Channel Width: 20 mhz or 40mhz or 80mhz

This is a bit more advanced and requires modifying the wi-fi router or wireless access point, but some users report success with: changing the wireless routers channel width, usually from 20mhz to 40mhz or 80mhz.

6: Have Someone Else Share the Wi-Fi Password With You

A great new feature available on iPhone or iPad running newer versions of iOS is the ability for anyone to share a wi-fi password with another iPhone or iPad that is nearby.

If you or someone else is in a situation where an iPhone or iPad user is repeatedly getting the “Incorrect password” error message when trying to join a network, and you and the other device is on a new iOS release (iOS 11 or later) then you can use the Share Wi-Fi Password feature in iOS to share the password with that person and allow them to join the network without having to type the password manually themselves. This is particularly effective if someone is prone to typos or CAPS LOCK, using an alternative keyboard, and other similar situations where some user error can be involved in the failure.

Join another wi-fi network to confirm that wi-fi is indeed working on the iPhone or iPad

If the iPhone or iPad will not join any wi-fi network, there may be a hardware issue – this is rare and fairly unlikely, but it’s vaguely possible (particularly if the device sustained substantial water contact or some other damage). In such a case, contact Apple Support or an authorized Apple technician or repair center to diagnose for hardware problems

Rarely, backing up, resetting, and then restoring an iOS device from backup may resolve the problem – this should be considered a last resort

Did the tips above fix your “incorrect password” for wi-fi network errors on an iPhone or iPad? Are you able to join the wi-fi network as expected? Do you know of another effective solution for this particular problem? Share with us your experiences in the comments below!

I tried reseting the network settings. Even when I share the password from my iPhone or MacBook it isn’t working anymore. I reboot the iPad. It has really gotten annoying. I’ll try turning off the router.

I just want to chime in and say once a week I wake up and find the WiFi is disconnected on my iPhone X. I can’t reconnect without restarting the modem. Sometimes (when it’s not my modem) I don’t have that option.

I have overrun my data plan several times because I didn’t notice it dropped WiFi. I ended up increasing my data plan and turning off cell every night so I would notice.

I depend on WiFi to get emergency calls from my elderly parents. Once they needed help evacuating—big wildfire!—but they couldn’t reach me because WiFi had dropped. Can you imagine, my parents couldn’t reach me in a wildfire?

I am glad to at least learn its not just my imagination. What’s going on, Apple? This is crazy.

I am not seeing all the same settings others cite and I have the latest iOS 13-something. Is it the modem settings? I just rebooted it, but next time it happens I’ll dig through these ideas. What if I’m in a place where I can’t change the router? Why wouldn’t Apple work with standard settings (or at least make these fixes available)? They need to recognize they have a problem.

3 hours it took me to determine the issue was with my NetGear WiFi router. Their Smart Connect feature was the culprit. Turned that off on the WiFi router, snap. Issue resolved for me. Hope this helps at least one other person, it was so frustrating. NetGear box is getting returned, just bought it a week ago and thank goodness I saved the receipt.

My iPad often (not ‘occasionally’) brings up the incorrect password message. I live on my own, I have one router, it only broadcasts 2.4ghz, the iPad knows the SSID and password, and yet it still throws up this error on a regular basis. My android phone never has a problem. Just one more reason, in my opinion, to smash this iPad to tiny pieces when it has outlived it’s usefulness. Or perhaps I should sell it and let an apple disciple deal with the crappy hardware and/or software, and buy an android tablet…

my older relative’s iPad 2 was not able to connect to our Wi-Fi, keep on getting ‘Incorrect Password’. I tried some of the recommendations, no go. I disable password on my Wi-Fi, the iPad connect. This tells me the older iPad 2 does not know how to handle the complex passphrase on my WPA2-PSK AES Encrypted Wi-Fi. This is my solution. I enabled the guess Wi-Fi used the simple 10 or 26 hexadecimal digits password/passhrase (abcdef, 0-9 characters, sample: ab12cd34ef56). When my guess leave, I will just disable the guess Wi-Fi. Hope this helps anyone else.

iPad refusing to connect with Incorrect Password the Unable to Join. Tried all the usual fixes, resets, reboots etc, etc, none worked. Then tried the Share Password between iPad & my iPhone which worked instantly. Thanks for that hint!

Was having this same problem with a phone I had just bought slightly used. The phone had been thoroughly reset to original settings. Tried may of the suggestions here and nothing seemed to work. I was trying to connect to my home network which has both 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks, both share identical passwords. I could not for the life of me get past the password being incorrect on the 2.4GHz network

Even though I though it was hopeless, I finally tried the 5GHz network. Worked like a charm.

This happened to me at a friend’s house and again at home. I was connecting to an Apple Airport at BOTH locations. I DO use WiFi calling (Verizon, “VZW Wi-Fi”). Another commenter said that was involved.

Importantly I didn’t type anything; these wifi passwords have been in my icloud and have never changed for at least two years.

same i literally did everything (i have i phone 7 btw). I turned on and off router, reset phone network settings, rebooted phone, etc. Everyone in my family has wifi, even my computer, but my phone doesn’t and i haven’t had wifi on my phone for months now, today i decided to look into it and spent all day wasting my brain away on my computer looking for solutions but none work!!! please someone help or provide solutions that worked for you or that i haven’t listed above of what i have already performed on my iphone 7.

P.S . im a kid and my dad doesn’t want to call router company bc he doesn’t want to lose wifi for his phone, or damage router accidently, and hes at work for most of day (its summer for me), and my mom doesn’t know anything about iphones she only had samsungs and lgs and isnt able to help, and shes also at work most of day.

Had the same problem for months and tried all procedures one by one but didn’t worked.

but after all I put my iphone to another iphone which was connected into the same network and it Said the same incorrect password, then I went near the modem and typed the password again and it got connected.

so try all the above listed procedures then go near by the modem and connect it manually, I will work.

I was able to connect the WIFI when I was close to the modem. But as soon as I moved away from the modem, it disconnected again and the password was incorrect again! PLEASE HELP! I’ve seriously tried everything here too!

I had the same problem. But i found the problem. I checked the blacklist of my wifi and it turned out my wifi had been automatically adding connected devices to the blacklist. You can check on the user website http://192.168.0.1

The slow password entry as above was the solution to my ipad and iphone 6s for wifi eduroam. Suggest Try first before more drastic solutions liek resetting network settings whcih involves a lot of reentering if your phone has many wifi details in memory

Hi all. I have a person whose iPhone is unable to join our wifi network. I’ve had people try putting it on the 2.4Ghz band, instead of the 5Ghz band. Earlier today, one of my cousins who came to my house was able to connect his device just fine. The phone was brought in Canada, but that shouldn’t make any difference. What could be happening?

After trying all the recommendations with no success, I typed the password very slowly waiting for the character to disappear when is hidden with the dot, before typing the next character. That solved the issue in my Ipad and iPhone.

Went through all the steps on my iphone with no success. It was only when I was looking through the other settings on my router that I found that somehow the iphone had been added to the blacklist on the router. I know I didnt do it so I dont know how it happened. Removed the blacklist item and suddenly the phone is happy to connect using the cached password.

I SOLVED IT by changing my 5ghz WiFi “control channel” from auto to something in the first 5ghz band (from 161 to 44). I also switched the bandwidth from auto to 40, which did not work by itself but might be part of the equation.

I had this problem with an iPad 2 and tried everything published on forums etc. including cold reboot, reset network settings, forget this network, switch off network services, plus resetting moain and extension routers. This is an incredibly stubborn fault.
Finally I solved it by accessing my Magic 2 Wifi adapter’s configuration page and activating the guest network (the one you might offer to visitors).
I found that I could then enter the new network name and password on the iPad and joined the network successfully.
I suspect that this worked because the iPad had no record of that network or its metadata.

How do you configure iPhone 7 ? I have tried all fixes I want to try this – my telco tried to help by updating firmware but it didn’t work 😩 so I’m interest in the reconfiguring or removing profile fixes above please!

So I have a weird one. I work for a telecom company and we install the technicolor 4131 gateway modem. Every once in a while we come across one that will allow you to connect to the wifi but then it kicks you off. You try to reconnect and it says invalid password. This goes on and on. Tried changing wifi channels, user names, passwords, firewall, and security settings and noting fixes it. I end up installing a separate modem and netgear router and it works fine. I would easily say its just bad equipment but each time this has happen I installed that exact same gateway at another location and it works exactly like its supposed too never disconnecting or failing to authenticate. I have a spectrum analyzer and each time I have seen a lot of wifi networks in the area. My question is are there environmental factors that would cause this to happen and if so why didn’t it affect another router the same way. And yes the problem was on both the 2.4 and 5g bands.

I followed al the steps but no resilt.!!!
It used to work with that Wifi.but it stopped.it hadn’t returned back 😢😢😢.
It didn’t recognize the wifi it was working with,
It eas sudden stop.
I’ll throw it and buy a Samsung mobile.
Complicated company Apple

“Forget this network” USED to be an option, I’ve used it before, but newest iOS installed (12.1.2) I don’t see “forget this network” as an option. I was just forced to change my work password (email and other in-house, used also for wifi) and now can’t connect to work wifi. Have turned off Auto-Join, Bluetooth, Airplane Mode, and Wi-Fi, Reset Network, rebooted phone, all repeatedly and in various combinations. This is not a case of my having gotten the password wrong: I can’t even get to the dialog box where I would enter it, I just get “Unable to Join Network”.

IN DESPERATION I CLICKED AROUND AND FOUND:
Settings> General> Profile> [work wifi]> Configuration Profile [work wifi]> More Details> Wi-Fi Networks> [work wifi] detail arrow> [And found that it shows Autojoin on even though it’s off!! Grrrr!!!!]

SO, I:
Clicked back to Profile>[work wifi], and hit Remove Profile. Then went back to the Settings> Wi-Fi, selected the work wifi network, it asked me for username and password, and I’M ON!

I really really hope this will be nail in the Apple Universe coffin. This problem has been coming and going for quite some time and it’s clearly related to how Apple designs it’s software to make your perfectly running 2 or 3 yr old very expensive device obsolete. It’s not like they aren’t capable of releasing software that actually functions. This is intentional and I do believe the fact that it is now happening on newer devices is simply they screwed the pooch. Apple is a nakedly greedy unethical corporation that does not care for its users, as has been proven time and time again w one software disaster after another. They front load all the flash to get your big dollars and then f*ck you down the line. I hope they sink. They deserve to.

But usually an inability to join wi-fi is almost always because you are entering your wi-fi password wrong.

Recall that you need wi-fi to install updates to iOS, download apps from the App Store, buy iTunes products, etc. why would they want to prevent users from participating in their ecosystem? That’s illogical from any business standpoint.

YAY!! Thank you GONG FAN! I went into the router and changed my channel width on 5g from 40mhz to 80mhz… success!

FASCINATING, you don’t describe having this issue but decide to chime in by shilling for Apple? Fascinating that both my iPhones ‘decided’ not to connect to my wifi at the very same time. Fascinating how I’ve spent hours scouring the internet for solutions that hadn’t worked, having entered my KNOWN password many times while other devices with my KNOWN password continue to work flawlessly. Thank you Fascinating for your logical nonsense.

I completely agree. I must daily 10-20x a day disable wifi on iPhone and restart the router to be able to join after the signal drops and the incorrect password message appears after connecting. WTF they do or think about at Apple, when they let this problem happen to thousands of their customers for years?

I can connect WiFi with my iphone 6S at everyones’ house except my own house. I try to do all possible ways but my iPhone doesnot get connected. I get password failover notice. I tried through settings, checked airplane mode, switched on and off, I rebooted the modem. I tried going next to it but it says password failover. I try factory settings and everything. This problem has been since more than 11/2 year.

This problem just started happening to me as well. My iphone does NOT have the option, under WiFi settings, to “forget this network” and I can’t understand why it’s not there. Infuriating. I wrote the WiFi password in my notes so that I could cut-and-paste it when prompted to enter it, so that I don’t have to keep manually typing. It worked a few times but this weekend it would NOT. After reading all these comments, I finally typed the password in MANUALLY instead of CUTTING AND PASTING and it worked. No idea why but it worked. Ridiculous garbage.

i hate how they dont have forget this network on my iphone 7 and i still cant get iphone to connect to wifi. if it doesn’t say incorrect password, it says “unable to join network”. im sooo mad one guy said he got blacklisted but idk how to check blacklist on my router my dad has login but he wont help me he says “i dont want to damage the router” bc everyone in my family has wifi and used the wifi password but when i type it it doesnt work. i even connected to my dads ipad it said share wifi password with my phone and it didnt work arrggh im soo mad.

“Forget this network” USED to be an option, I’ve used it before, but newest iOS installed (12.1.2) I don’t see “forget this network” as an option. I was just forced to change my work password (email and other in-house, used also for wifi) and now can’t connect to work wifi. Have turned off Auto-Join, Bluetooth, Airplane Mode, and Wi-Fi, Reset Network, rebooted phone, all repeatedly and in various combinations. This is not a case of my having gotten the password wrong: I can’t even get to the dialog box where I would enter it, I just get “Unable to Join Network”.

IN DESPERATION I CLICKED AROUND AND FOUND:
Settings> General> Profile> [work wifi]> Configuration Profile [work wifi]> More Details> Wi-Fi Networks> [work wifi] detail arrow> [And found that it shows Autojoin on even though it’s off!! Grrrr!!!!]

SO, I:
Clicked back to Profile>[work wifi], and hit Remove Profile. Then went back to the Settings> Wi-Fi, selected the work wifi network, it asked me for username and password, and I’M ON!

I have this problem on EVERY apple device I own and ONLY on our apple devices. it only happens for about 15 minutes at a time and then everything is fine but it is F***G annoying and we are already at our wit’s end due to a few other outside factors.

It is only apple products and I tired every step above multiple times and since we were due for phone upgrades we got brand new iphone XRs today. So all the reset network settings, manually enter password, forget the network, power down, blah, blah, blah, doesn’t even apply – it’s a brand new phone, out of the box today!

Not a new problem…happened to me a year or so ago and none of these fixes worked. Eventually (after many days) my phone and iPad automatically started connecting to my home WiFi again. And today they stopped again (new iPad this time too). Very frustrating. I’m due for a new phone and was thinking of the XR but now I’m wondering if I should go Samsung again. My ASUS tablet is connected to home WiFi just fine so it’s definitely an Apple issue.

This is the second time this has happened since getting the iPhone X. Last time nothing worked except connecting from my husbands phone but now his won’t connect either. None of these options work. So frustrating! For as much as these phones cost, this shouldn’t keep happening!

I’ve followed all of the steps, including a full factory reset. I can connect to every network except my work network. We’ve done a router reset, we don’t have a long network key. I’ve attempted to share the wifi password from my mac that is connected to the wifi with my phone, and nothing has worked.

I’ve tried everything above that’s possible to try and nothing works. It’s on a new iPhone 6s, and the same thing is happening to my old iPhone 5 that I just restored. Can’t access Settings because the phones won’t get past the password prompt, and I KNOW it is the correct password. I’m sending back this piece of garbage and never buying another iPhone again. Done.

Tim Crook is ruining Apple. He needs to be f***ing fired. It used to be there were a few bad parts of the Apple experience one of them being iTunes, now EVERY-F’n-THING that is Apple is garbage. Tim Crook, Jonathen Con-ivy-ng, Eddie Cue-for-nothing are ALL responsible for the tarnishing of what used to be a once professional company.

I’ve tried it all now and I still can’t connect via my iPad. My iPhone works just fine. I get the incorrect password even when I share from my phone. I’ve reset my router, reset the network from iPad, shut down and restarted. All are updated.

Have this problem regularly, never been able to pinpoint the problem. Seems not confined to just iPhones. Happens with strong WiFi signals. However, a strong signal is one, you also need a good quality signal. Somehow I’m getting the idea that interference from external sources are involved. But, as I have the issue on 5GHz Wifi, the changes of disturbance there are less. Any “RF” expert can pitch in?

I’ve tried almost everything, I want to avoid getting phone checked and resetting it completely, but nothing works. This has happened to me for 3 times now! Only in just a month—I don’t know what else to do. Someone help me.

Reported it to Apple support, been at it for 6 month then decided to just live with it.

Hasn’t resolved yet, with each update it improves slightly, but still does not the seem reliability as in iOS 10. It seems to me a software problem, happens with all iOS devices (iPhones & iPads) own several in this household. Services drops, really bad at night, different routers. On 2 separate internet connections.

I find this happens with my home network about 2x/month. I have tried manual entry and that usually worked. When it didn’t, I restarted phone and that usually worked. Howeever, now, I found I could just turn off wifi on phone and then immediately turn WiFi back on and it usually connects. No need to even turn off phone.

after doing all the above things to reset. I had an issue where someone would share the wifi password using option number 5. even then my iPhone actually said wrong password even though it was shared through iOS. (i want so far as to try with another iOS devices and 2 macs …no dice). It seems to be resolved 2 updates ago for iOS.

Yeah I’ve had that issue a few times, but it’s usually fixed by simply rebooting. I did try option 2 (forgettin the wifi) before rebooting at least one of those times, but it still wouldn’t take the password and connect to the wifi until after the device was rebooted.

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